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New England By Teddy Cox Suffolk Attendance, Wagering Show Gains Average Daily Handle Is Up 11 Per Cent Tomasello Says Track Has Perfect Strip SUFFOLK DOWNS, East Boston, Mass., June 3. Yankeeland racing never felt better in its life. B. A. Darios Lincoln Downs came through with big increases right on through the line and judge John C. Pappas opened the local thoroughbred festival with the feeling that "well be happy if our percentages work out half that well." The first 11 racing days gave the enterprising chief reason for exuberance and exhilaration, for, after a somewhat slow beginning, the meeting perked suddenly and now the books are resplendent in black figures. The crowds are up some 15 per cent, while the wagering mart is operating on ! a 13.1 per cent rise over last seasons figures. Actually, though, there is hardly any way of determining the trend .here, for last year Memorial Day was not in- i eluded in the first 11 days of the sport. Still, "Open House," when they give with the gimmicks, is on tap for tomorrow and that could very easily compensate for any ambiguity the present figures tend to show. On the racing front, Switch On failed in his mission to switch from distance racing to sprinting when Lord Jeep, an invader from Maryland, hung on with "English" determination to prevail in a warm last-ditch struggle in the Commonwealth Handicap. Lord Jeep, a son of Lord Boswell Belle Jeep, by War Dog was campaigned through Bowie, Laurel and Pimlico without showing too much in the way of top-rate class, but came forth with his best race of the year in the Commonwealth. The gelding wouldnt allow the speedy Pine Echo to get too far away from him early and once he had breasted that one, he didnt collapse as was expected. Instead, he battled furiously and did not relinquish his apparent chance for victory until nearing the bulls eye, where Switch On charged to take the second award. Tide and Speed of Track Do Not Go Together Joseph P. Tomasello, who has been in the Suffolk Downs organization since the construction of the track and through his initial meeting in July of 1936,- isnt inclined to agree with dockers Tom Hamilton, Pete DeMarco and Bernard "Brownie" Berman in their observation that the speed of the track fluctuates with the tide. The split-second experts maintain that often the backstretch will be much faster than the home lane. "Weve made a thorough study of the possibilities of the tide having an affect on our track," Tomasello says. "But we cant find anything to indicate this is true. Actually, the Suffolk Downs surface is eight or nine feet higher than the highest point the tide normally reaches, so for this reason alone it wouldnt seem that the moisture from the sea could have any bearing." Of course, patrons here look out into the vast Atlantic and the Belle Isle inlet, which wends its way into the infield here, actually empties out into the ocean. The inlet is the boundary line between Revere and East Boston and these cities levy taxes accordingly against the Eastern Racing Association. Tomasello is of the belief that Suffolk Downs is the perfect racing strip, tind he begs to be pardoned for being so pardonably proud. "We have a wonderful mixture of soil here," says the swarthy Bostonian, "and, as you have probably noted, ity is one of the fastest drying-out tracks in the country. I dont believe we ever have a heavy track, and often youll find the course good or slow after heavy rains make it sloppy in the morning." Says Stop Watches Tell Different Story j Horsemen here agree with Tomasello. They like to train their horses here and it is rare that you find a complaint, which is a chronic occupational gripe among horsemen at most tracks. Of course, it is usually the horsemen who are not winning races who scream the loudest. Apprised of Tomasellos observations on the possible fluctuation of the track speed, clocker DeMarco says that the track chief most certainly should be the key authority on the subject, but he says that morning after morning his stop-watches tell him a different I story. Another well-known "speed-chart" handicapper j says it is a scientific fact that the tide has much to do with the track speed, that when it goes out, the track drains accordingly. Program Scribblings . . . Bayard Tuckerman Jr., who has the good colt, The Crack, winner of the Faneuil j Hall Handicap, was scheduled to fill in today in the j stewards stand for R. Norman Charlton, but was a late declaration. A mysterious back ailment sent him to a hospital for observation. Charlton took a day off to see his daughter, Barbara Joan, graduate from Pem-brook College, the girls section of Brown University. Gerald A. Burke, patrol judge who has charge of "reading" the films here, pinch-hitted for the original pinch-hitter. Palmer Domenico.Chicago veteran, who enjoyed some success a tr Lincoln Downs, couldnt seem to find his best stride here, so he packed his tack and headed for ThistleDown, along with agent Bert Rose. . . . Circle K. Farms Carrara Lamar, who cracked a couple of track standards at Lincoln Downs, but who also cracked the constitutions of the form players who made him an odds-on favorite in his last race, probably will show vast improvement next time out. Understand he coughed a couple of times as he headed from the stabling area to the paddock, indicating that he wasnt himself. Mostf certainly, his race was too bad to be true.
